A Family Doctor in solo private practice; I may be going the way of the dinosaur, but I'm not dead yet.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Anonymity and Virginity

Question: What do anonymity and virginity have in common?

Answer: You can only lose them once, so make it count.

I am pleased, proud and thrilled to announce the upcoming release of my first book. From Kaplan Publishing, on August 4, 2009:

DECLARATIONS OF A DINOSAUR;10 LAWS I'VE LEARNED AS A FAMILY DOCTORby Lucy E. Hornstein MD

Yes, it's based on the Laws of the Dinosaur (newly updated) from the sidebar (look over there ==>).

Here's the blurb:

Solo family doctor Lucy E. Hornstein MD looked forward to practicing medicine since childhood. But somewhere between hanging out her shingle and the realities of 21st century medicine, she found herself becoming more and more of a dinosaur. With insight, warmth and biting wit, she shares her unique take on medical practice in DECLARATIONS OF A DINOSAUR: 10 LAWS I’VE LEARNED AS A FAMILY DOCTOR.

Borrowed, adapted and made up, each law contains the seed of a greater truth about modern outpatient medicine. With clarity and humor, Dr. Hornstein relates the growing frustration caused by insurance companies, specialists and unreasonable patients that has led so many other solo docs to throw in the towel, while she continues to battle it out on her own.

Illustrated at every turn with stories, vignettes, and anecdotes drawn from real life, Dr. Hornstein will have you chuckling at the ignorant advice from the guy in the health food store, and laughing aloud at the forthright pronouncements of her college genetics professor. Even while drawn into the trials and tribulations of solo practice, the reader will feel Dr. Hornstein’s fulfillment of her calling, as her joy shines through on every page.

For those faithful readers (both of you) who tune in regularly, you should know that the book consists entirely of new material that has never appeared on the blog. So even if you've read every word of my 700+ posts to date, you can still buy the book and be assured of 239 all-new pages of Dinoblather.

Where can you buy it? Anywhere. It can be pre-ordered at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and elsewhere. If you can wait until August 4th, it will be available in bookstores everywhere.

Congrats Dr.Dino! This is a huge revelation. I don't mean your name. The question that has puzzled quite a lot of medbloggers has been, "Is Dino a he or a she?" I always thought of you & referred to you in the feminine. Glad to know I was right :)

Bone to pick, though: Your book is not available on Kindle. It's gotten to the point where I'm just about unwilling to read anything other than what I can get on my Kindle. Can I drag my feet long enough for you to work this out with your publisher and make me a happy Kindler?

Whoa, I've been following your blog periodically, and all along I thought you were male! Maybe it was the first entry of yours that I read--the handwriting entry. I thought that only a male would write about how he is unusual in having good handwriting.

In a way I'm disappointed in you revealing your identity (not the fact that you're female which is awesome because solo female practitioners are even less common than solo male ones), but because the mystery is gone! We all had images of what you looked like in our heads. It's like when you read a book and imagine what the characters look like, and then when they make the movie, it ruins it for you.

I am shocked by this revelation. You're a human? I don't know why, but I always assumed you were a camptosaurus. I had such a wonderful time imagining you applying an ice cold stethoscope as only a ectothermic saurian can.

Congratulations on the book. I hope last weeks announcement about Simon & Schuster taking over sales for Kaplan translates into you getting greater exposure than you otherwise might have. Very exciting.

I always knew you were a woman!!! It never even crossed my mind that you could be a man. Nice to meet you Lucy. I Looove your blog by the way and if you come to TN maybe I'll be able to get my book signed by you!!!

Man, do I feel behind the eight-ball. I'm just catching up on your blog entries & I hadn't realized you'd outed yourself. (Although the pic should have given it away. I told you that was the best one.) So I can call you my sister & not my sibling?